Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

Everything is going okay except the 3mth nexium ordeal I'm not digging its causing a lot of pain and side effects for me. So I think its back to the herbal cocktail I mean if i got from atrophic down to mild .. maybe the herbal cocktail will continue to reduce it all the way to zero. I will post a thread up the full treatment for hpolyri (although I posted this treatment on a hpolyri thread a while back-my very famous blog journal entry on a treatment used that received great massive amounts of positive comments and success) all the way down to the herbal cocktail for acid and inflammation that I used and use (gastriits and Gerd) for everyone as soon as I get the chance .. and free from work

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosebloom

I am back to my almond milk and wholegrain toast for breakfast tomorrow. A little cheating here and there inspires me to be good the majority of the time.

Rose

That's what I have accepted myself. I know the way I was eating before was not healthy at all and I'm kind of glad I've been going through this. I know that sounds totally off the wall but it has made me see that the kind of food I was putting in my body every day was "trash". I feel better about what passes my lips now. It's not like I will never have an ice cream or piece of candy but I'm resigned to the fact that it will be an occasional treat and not an everyday occurence....and I'm totally OK with that. As a matter of fact I have this "treat" that I make with peanut butter, honey, raisins and almonds, refrigerate and cut into little bars...that satisfies me and it's all natural. Yumm!

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

I have been following your progress; Rosebloom and so happy to hear that its possible to get off PPI. I posted before on my experiences with gastritis. Have been on PPI's off and on for 5 years! The acid reflux has gotten worse in the last 2 years. I have now had 2 endoscopies done. The last one was done just a few weeks ago along with a colonoscopy and I was going to have a capsule inserted to track PH balance. Well because I was having anxiety (from my new acid reflux going into my throat causing alot of havoc and a trip to the ER) my procedure was performed under general anesthesia! Well I had nothing but problems. Since I was told to stop taking PPI a week prior to treatment and being anxious about procedure my acid reflux was so bad; they were unable to do the capsule treatment and the procedure left me with NO voice for 10 days, severe fatigue, and worse acid reflux! Had to double up the 40 mg of Protonix for about a week. Now I am trying to wean myself off the Protonix, taking 1 Protonix every other day, and 1 150mg of Zanax the other day. I will do this for 3 wks then will take Protonix every 3 days for another 3 weeks, until I can get off Protonix completely. Also chewing DSL tablets, a Probiotic every morning, and a Digestive Enzyme following each meal. It has been challenging but I have learned A LOT from everyones post here. Just tonite I have started AVC and have begun Acupuncture treatment. Happily today has been my best day thus far, and I hope to start my own thread as soon as I can determine exactly what's working for me.
Good Luck to you all and thanks again for sharing such invaluable information!
I am encouraged by your posts.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

Jayner:

Hang in there. In spite of all the hardship, it is worth to have the endoscopy/colonoscopy. That prep for the colonoscopy is awful, though. But it is worth for the peace of mind you can have by knowing things are under control and you don't have anything serious going on.

I think for me the key has been to take control of this "thing" by trial and error and trying to educate myself better. You will eventually find triggers and what works for you in terms of remedies.

I still experience some heartburn several times per week, but not daily and not constant anymore as when I was going through the rebound. It's a slow and gradual process, but I can now identify triggers and have entire "good days" with few or no gastric symptoms. I think most of us can get there with hard work and patience.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

I am now on month five off PPI's and feel I have reached a plateau where I am going to be, at least for now. Symptoms are now manageable and somewhat predictable. I had another scone the other day (packed with carbs and sugar) and ended up with heartburn pretty much all day. I feel more relaxed about living with this condition now, and have accepted that it will be better for me to live with mild symptoms rather than no symptoms and pay the price of developing some undesirable side effect down the line. I am here to write that I survived acid rebound and there is light on the other side. However, I am by no means symptom free even with all the remedies I use and care I take to keep this condition under control (minus the occasional scone or cup of coffee).

But I have to reiterate that I never experienced anything as bad as that acid rebound coming off the PPI's for the first two months or so. Third month was more tolerable and then things sort of evened out which is where I have been for the past month and a half or so.

Definitely doable if one has enough information and is willing to wait the darn rebound out.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

I see I last posted here about a month ago. It has not been a straight line no matter how many remedies I try. I seem to be going through a bad spell right now. I have had two or three days of pretty constant moderate heartburn, so I have gone back to Zantac 150 mg twice a day to relieve the burn and irritation. I had been doing OK with periodic heartburn every so often, but tolerable. But I seem to have experienced a setback in spite of my modified diet, DGL, magnesium supplements, liquid calcium, ACV, etc. There is nothing I have done to bring back the heartburn. That is, no alcohol, no sodas, no caffeine, still a fairly low carb diet, etc. So, this is frustrating.

I think this must be the progression of the natural disorder when one is without medication. It is frustrating but I am resigned to keep working on it and pretend PPI's don't exist unless this really gets out of control.

This is definitely not a linear thing. It seems like one has periods of less symptoms and then relapses like the one I have been experiencing over the past couple of miserable days. I finally had to accept the situation and take the Zantac again because my stomach was burning for hours at a time.

I am jelous of those who post that they have been "cured" by any particular thing, i.e, ACV, Magesium, etc. I don't seem to be experiencing such luck no matter what I try.

I'll keep posting periodic updates until the post is closed, but this is where things stand today approximately seven months from the time I stopped taking the PPI.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get "this" under control again in a few days.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

Quote:

Originally Posted by rosebloom

I see I last posted here about a month ago. It has not been a straight line no matter how many remedies I try. I seem to be going through a bad spell right now. I have had two or three days of pretty constant moderate heartburn, so I have gone back to Zantac 150 mg twice a day to relieve the burn and irritation. I had been doing OK with periodic heartburn every so often, but tolerable. But I seem to have experienced a setback in spite of my modified diet, DGL, magnesium supplements, liquid calcium, ACV, etc. There is nothing I have done to bring back the heartburn. That is, no alcohol, no sodas, no caffeine, still a fairly low carb diet, etc. So, this is frustrating.

I think this must be the progression of the natural disorder when one is without medication. It is frustrating but I am resigned to keep working on it and pretend PPI's don't exist unless this really gets out of control.

This is definitely not a linear thing. It seems like one has periods of less symptoms and then relapses like the one I have been experiencing over the past couple of miserable days. I finally had to accept the situation and take the Zantac again because my stomach was burning for hours at a time.

I am jelous of those who post that they have been "cured" by any particular thing, i.e, ACV, Magesium, etc. I don't seem to be experiencing such luck no matter what I try.

I'll keep posting periodic updates until the post is closed, but this is where things stand today approximately seven months from the time I stopped taking the PPI.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get "this" under control again in a few days.

Rose

You hang in there, Rose. I can see it gets you down at times. If only it could be easy for everyone.

For myself, I am taking it slow. I went from Aciphex to Omeprazole and I'm doing that on a 2-day on, 1-day off for a while. Then I'll go to every other day for however long that takes. My days off I don't need to take anything unless my anxiety is at the "red" level, which it seems to be these days. I, too am taking Magnesium, liquid calcium/VitD and sticking to my modified diet. If I need anything for a little burn I go for the DGL or even Tums and try to stay away from Gaviscon because of the aluminum.

Someday we'll both be on here telling our story how we beat this thing and helping others do the same.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

I have an idea that could work for a lot of people trying to wean themselves off of omeprazole.

I'm on omeprazole 20 mg/day, have been taking it for about 8 months. I can't seem to get off this stuff either – my stomach comes back like a volcano every time after 5-10 days. First 2 times I tried were “cold turkey”, then after some searching learned about "acid rebound" and the “half dose” option (plus a strict diet regimen). I too am worried about the long term side effects, especially with vitamin and nutrient absorption and their effects on joints and bone, etc., etc., etc...

As to weaning oneself off omeprazole, most people have a hard time adjusting to a dose of 20 mg tablets every other day, especially the first 2-3 weeks or so... For this drug, typically it may be too much of a shock to the system. There are other drugs that require reducing the dosage 10-25%, waiting a month or so then repeating the process until the dose is low enough to finally stop – this could take over a year. These other drugs are also sometimes replaced with a more benign drug in the meantime.

It sure would be easier on your system to taper omeprazole to 15 mg/day for the first 3-4 months and proceed from there with a 10 mg dose, then a 5 mg dose. This may seem to take a while longer but a better chance of succeeding is better than not succeeding with no results (and the pain, frustration and depression that go with it). Plus I'm still reducing the dosage right off the bat.

The problem is with omeprazole 20 mg tablets, they cannot be cut in half or quarters with a pill chopper - this would negate the effect of omeprazole as it would be destroyed by stomach acids and not absorbed in the small intestine. The tablet has a coating so it can bypass the stomach acids and be released in the small intestine.

My friend said omeprazole was available in 20 mg capsules (I searched “omeprazole delayed-release capsules 20.6 mg” and there they were). He said to just open the capsule and inside are small time-release pellets which can be mixed in applesauce and drunk with a glass of water. That way you'd be reducing to “about” 10 mg dose every day by sorting the pellets in half (or as close to half as you can get). Still, it may not be much of an improvement over taking the coated tablets as omeprazole is very slow to release into your system. But still again, skipping a whole day every other day could well have some kind of yo-yo effect on your system and many days could be “unbearable”...

Now here's where the idea/suggestion comes into play. I was still thinking I need a 15 mg dose to start (to make things easier and more “guaranteed” results). So I said if they are pellets they can be weighed! So I did a search on “digital scale .001 gram accuracy” (accuracy down to the milligram) - and there they were. Now I could weigh the omeprazole pellets, take that number in grams and multiply it by .75 (75% dose) for a 15 gram dose! The same applies for a 10 mg (50%) or 5 mg (25 %) dose, etc...

I wanted to be sure I got enough accuracy in milligrams with these digital scales. The ones I liked were in the $150-300 price range (which can pretty much give accurate enough readings). In the end there were 3 brands/models that I liked – I spent a bit of time sorting them all out to make sure I got the right one. These scales may be a little pricey, but to me would be a tremendous bargain if they could help get me off this drug. These scales are so sensitive they come with a plastic or glass cover so when the air-conditioning or heat come on they could affect the results! These scales don't take up much space and are convenient and pretty much easy to use.

As for weighing the omeprazole pellets, just trim a clean square piece of paper (or wax paper) to fit on the weighing tray, also fold the paper in half (for dispensing). Then you just "tare" the scale so it sets back to 0 grams for weighing. Then just put your “75% or whatever dose” on a tablespoon of applesauce and take with a glass of water!

Another alternative to using a digital scale is to sort the pellets on a mirror or flat surface carefully with a razor blade into halves or quarters. I'm not sure how accurate this would be if done by eye, or if the “linearity” of the digital scales would be better at low milligram measures...

I hope this helps everyone as much as I think it should help me. Another advantage is you will not need as much of those H2 blockers or antacids (which can have their own acid rebound effect) to take as a substitute – if at all... I would also watch my diet closely and NO coffee, alcohol or tobacco (the usual triggers) whatsoever. Good luck!

Last edited by rayljr; 07-25-2010 at 03:39 AM.

The Following User Says Thank You to rayljr For This Useful Post:ms.titanium (01-15-2011)

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

I just got off my PPI for a week now, because I am having severe burning due to my gastritis and it wasnt working one bit 3 mths into my PPI still same pain. Ive been using slippery elm DGL aloevera and such so far not to much relief with any of this.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

missjade11, I had the same problem on omeprazole 20 mg/day. My doctor told me to take 20 mg 2x per day (double the dose) for 2 months. After 3 1/2 days I started getting relief, stayed on it for 2 months and went back to the 20 mg/day dose which has been holding steady. I did have some occasional abdominal pain and soreness when on the higher dose (a side effect), but was well worth the trade off. You could try a double dose to "catch up" for about 4 days, works for me.

Beware of acid rebound and permanent dependency on this drug or any ppi, see my post page 5 on this thread.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

Rosebloom-

I can't believe I didn't find this thread before. I, too, am in the process of weaning myself off of PPI's. I've been on Prevacid 30mg (Rx) for 9 years. A month ago I changed to Prevacid 15mg OTC, and then a week ago I stopped taking it. I did well for 3 days, then had really bad heartburn with the pains shooting up and down my back and the stomach discomfort and the chest pains. I took Prevacid OTC for 2 more days, then today nothing but I did take a Zantac 75. Just one. I'll see how I do.

I am taking ACV, my doc (a naturopath) recommended 1-2 tsp before every meal. I just take 1 tsp for now, and shoot it straight, then chase it with a glass of warm water to wash the acid out of my mouth and down my esophagus.

Like you, I noticed ACV does seem to help but I don't know why. I've heard varying theories. That it helps the valve to close, that it helps digestion because some people actually need more acid not less, etc. No one seems to know why it works, just that it does work.

What finally got me to try and get off Prevacid was the reports that people are experiencing rare and painful fractures of the hip and jaw after long term use of PPI's. Well, 9 years of Prevacid is pretty long term, and I don't want to have osteoporosis at 38. Well, I don't want it period, but definitely not this young.

So I read this thread with excitement, because you are proof it CAN be done with perseverance. Thank you SO much for posting this. It's very encouraging to me.

Edit: forgot to mention that I sleep somewhat propped up on pillows or I do reflux at night and wake up coughing. Any thoughts on that? It's really uncomfortable for my back to sleep in that awkward position.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

EagleRiverDee, ACV might work by reducing levels of gastrin, which tell your acid pumps in your stomach to produce more acid. More gastrin = more acid. More gastrin is produced when the PH in your stomach drops.

My sister said drinking pickle juice helped her out alot, and it's similar to ACV (apple cider vinegar). For myself, I seem like a nice Italian dressing with my salad with dinner.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

Thank you for your words of encouragement. As you probably read, I got off the PPI because I developed osteopenia after only three years of taking Aciphex. I happened to have a Dexa scan the year I started the Aciphex because I was 52 and starting menopause so my doctor wanted a baseline. All was normal then. Three years later when I had the repeat Dexa everyone was shocked when it showed advanced osteopenia, meaning I am just a few points away from osteoporosis. That's when I decided to quit the Aciphex even though it provided me with one hundred percent relief of any symptoms. It's been a tough road with good days and bad days.

I had two pretty lousy days of almost constant burning and today was OK again.

As far as sleeping, sleep on your left side. It keeps acid from coming up. I have trained myself to do this and rarely wake up with any discomfort the next day.

I'd love to hear more theories as to why or how ACV works. I like the gastrin theory.

I drink mine at room temperature diluted in a glass of water and through a straw to minimize contact with my teeth.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyerfan

You hang in there, Rose. I can see it gets you down at times. If only it could be easy for everyone.

For myself, I am taking it slow. I went from Aciphex to Omeprazole and I'm doing that on a 2-day on, 1-day off for a while. Then I'll go to every other day for however long that takes. My days off I don't need to take anything unless my anxiety is at the "red" level, which it seems to be these days. I, too am taking Magnesium, liquid calcium/VitD and sticking to my modified diet. If I need anything for a little burn I go for the DGL or even Tums and try to stay away from Gaviscon because of the aluminum.

Someday we'll both be on here telling our story how we beat this thing and helping others do the same.

Well, after two miserable days, I have had a pretty decent day today. Nothing like a heartburn-free day to lift my spirits again. I'll keep at it with my ACV, DGL and calcium/magnesium supplements and trying to avoid the known triggers. I can put up with the periodic heartburn if at least I know it will not be a daily thing. I did not take Zantac today. I guess I will save it for those bad days and take it as needed.

Re: Getting off PPI's and Acid Rebound-What has worked for me- Four months later

Hi Rose,

Thank you for posting your update. I too have been struggling of late. I will update my thread shortly. I am glad to hear you had a better day today. It really is a challenge to get through and it affects so much of our every day lives. I hope that you find a way to manage without the PPI's. It is very tempting to resort back to them. Please keep us posted and I am wishing you well and good health.